Handelsbanken Fonder AB Decreases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 216,563 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,065 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Accenture were worth $76,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.8% in the first quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,778,000 after buying an additional 14,283 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $362.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,131,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,774,898. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $336.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.